International Women's Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
International Working Woman's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.
Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc). In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day mixed together. In others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.
The IWD is also celebrated as the first spring holiday, as in the listed countries the first day of March is considered the first day of the spring season.
History
The first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it came to commemorate the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The idea of having an international women's day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions. By urban legend,[1][2] women from clothing and textile factories staged one such protest on 8 March 1857 in New York City.[3] The garment workers were protesting against very poor working conditions and low wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These women established their first labor union in the same month two years later.
More protests followed on 8 March in subsequent years, most notably in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights[citation needed]. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen (in the labour-movement building located at Jagtvej 69, which until recently housed Ungdomshuset) by the Second International and an 'International Women's Day' was established, which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin, although no date was specified.[4] The following year, 1911, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, on March 19.[5] However, soon thereafter, on March 25, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed over 140 garment workers. A lack of safety measures was blamed for the high death toll. Furthermore, on the eve of World War I, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1913. In the West, International Women's Day was commemorated during the 1910s and 1920s, but dwindled. It was revived by the rise of feminism in the 1960s.
Demonstrations marking International Women's Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik feminist Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday in the Soviet Union, and it was established, but was a working day until 1965. On May 8, 1965 by the decree of the USSR Presidium of the Supreme Soviet International Women's Day was declared as a non working day in the USSR "in commemoration of outstanding merits of the Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, their heroism and selflessness at the front and in rear, and also marking the big contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples and struggle for the peace."
2009 International Women's Day
On occasion of 2009 International Women's Day the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that the specific health-care needs of women are often ignored or insufficiently taken into account in war situations.
In the world’s least developed countries, many of which are at war, women are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than in developed countries, according to UNICEF. While armed conflicts and other violence affect entire communities, women are particularly at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence. Because of poor security conditions or because they have no means of transportation, it is often impossible for women to reach a health-care facility so as to give birth safely.[6]
References
1 Temma Kaplan, On the Socialist Origins of International Women's Day, in: Feminist Studies, 11, 1985, S. 163-171. (PDF)
2 Liliane Kandel / Françoise Picq, Le Mythe des origines à propos de la journée internationale des femmes, in: La Revue d'en face, 12, 1982, S. 67-80.
3 Angela Howard Zophy, Handbook of American women's history, Garland, 1990, 187.
4 Unites Nations page on the background of the IWD
5 [1]
6 Greater need, fewer resources: ensuring adequate health care for women during armed conflict
Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women's_Day
国际妇女节
维基百科，自由的百科全书
国际妇女节是在每年的3月8日为庆祝妇女在经济、政治和社会等领域做出的重要贡献和取得的巨大成就而设立的节日。同时，也是为了纪念在1911年美国纽约三角工厂火灾中丧生的140多名女工。
歷史
设立国际妇女节的想法是最先产生于20世纪初，当时西方各国正处在快速工业化和经济扩张阶段。恶劣的工作条件和低廉的工资使得各类抗议和罢工活动此起彼伏。1857年3月8日，美国纽约的制衣和纺织女工走上街头，抗议恶劣的工作条件和低薪。尽管后来当局出动警察攻击并驱散了抗议人群，但这次抗议活动促成了两年后的3月第一个工会组织的建立。
接下来的数年里，几乎每年的3月8日都有类似的抗议游行活动。其中最为引人注目的是在1908年，当时有将近15000名妇女走上纽约街头，要求缩短工作时间，增加工资和享有选举权等，并喊出了象征经济保障和生活质量的“面包加玫瑰”的口号。首次庆祝妇女节是在1909年2月28日，当时美国社会党发表了一项宣言，号召在每年2月的最后一个星期日举行纪念活动。这样每年的庆祝活动一直持续到1913年。1910年，社会主义国际在丹麦哥本哈根召开首届国际妇女会议。会上德国妇女运动领袖克拉拉·蔡特金（Clara Zetkin）倡议设定一天为国际妇女节，得到与会代表的积极响应。次年3月19日，奥地利、丹麦、德国和瑞士等国总共超过一百万人举行各种活动庆祝国际妇女节。6天之后的3月25日，纽约发生了著名的三角工厂火灾，火灾吞噬了140多名制衣女工的生命，这其中大多数是意大利和犹太移民。而恶劣的工作条件被认为是导致如此重大伤亡的主要原因。这场火灾后来还对美国的劳工立法产生了重要影响。
而在第一次世界大战爆发前夕，欧洲的妇女们也于1913年3月8日走上街头，通过举行和平集会等形式反对战争。
纪念国际妇女节的活动后来还证明是俄国革命的前奏。1917年3月8日，当时的俄国妇女举行罢工，要求得到“面包与和平”。4天后，沙皇被迫退位，临时政府宣布赋予妇女选举权。十月革命成功之后，布尔什维克的女权活动家亚历山德拉·科伦泰（Alexandra Kollontai）说服列宁将3月8日设为法定假日。苏联时期，每年都会在这天纪念“英雄的妇女工作者”。不过在民众中，节日的政治色彩逐渐减弱而演变成类似西方的母亲节和情人节之类向女性表达尊敬和爱意的机会。至今，这天仍是俄罗斯的法定假日，男性会赠送礼物给妇女以祝贺她们的节日。
在西方国家，国际妇女节的纪念活动在上世纪二三十年代期间正常举行，但后来一度中断。直到1960年代，随着女权运动的兴起才又逐渐恢复。
1924年，中国共产党在广州首次举行了妇女节的纪念活动。1949年，大陆中央政府成立后正式将3月8日定为妇女节，该日全国妇女放假半天，并举行各种形式的庆祝活动。在台湾、香港和澳门等地，妇女节也都作为一个节日予以庆祝。但在1991年，中華民國內政部卻取消了原本婦女節時婦女可以放假的規定。
联合国从1975年国际妇女年开始，每年于3月8日举办活动庆祝国际妇女节。
Source: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E9%99%85%E5%A6%87%E5%A5%B3%E8%8A%82
